Up in the Air
by Soupandassdoctor
Summary: **old fic/repost AU: Piper and Alex meet on a plane


Hi all,

Its been a few years, that I published/posted my fics under a different name.

I'm reposting this one shot, and will post 5 chapters at a time of my other 2 stories. I plan on keeping them up temporarily. Hope you still enjoy/hope new members enjoy for the first time.

* * *

The tall brunette perused the selection of books at the little airport bookstore, during her layover from JFK to the Charles de Gaulle. She balanced the four books she'd already selected in the crook of her arm as she pulled a fifth from the Hudson News shelf and sat herself in a corner, browsing until she was satisfied with a selection. She pays for her book and takes a seat at the gate; she begins to get lost in her latest text as more and more people accumulate around the terminal.

She stands as the line gets shorter for the people that are traveling first class, when she can hear hurried heeled footsteps, probably from some scatterbrained female who failed to properly separate her liquids and is about to miss her flight. She sees the owner of the clapping feet, running as fast as she can in heels that are too high for traveling, she appears as expected- disheveled, hair half trapped underneath the strap of her purse, her roller bag tilting off its wheels, unable to keep up with the quick maneuvering she does around other travelers. The brunette rolls her eyes with a chuckle, hands her ticket to the flight attendant and joins the other passengers in the tunnel to the plane.

She booked a window seat, having been the only choice for her last minute route detour but hoped if she boarded toward the end, she could snag an aisle seat for extra leg room.

Luckily the seat on the aisle of her two seated row was free, so she stowed her carry-on in the overhead bin, settled in, removed her book from her messenger bag and tucked the bag under the seat in front of her. A few moments later, she was mid-sip of her vodka soda, when her eyes broke away from her page at the stranger hovering next to her seat. Her eyes returned to her novel briefly before she glanced back up, at the bedraggled blonde woman eyeing her ticket.

"I..., yeah, I think this is my seat," she says out loud and adjusts the handle of her suitcase.

The brunette's eyes track her slowly, she glances at the blonde who struggles to lift a bag, that in good taste is quite similar to her own, overhead but manages to do so unassisted. Her eyes return to the page.

"Excuse me?"

"Hmm?," the brunette replies without looking up.

"3B? The aisle? It's my seat."

"Yeah I had 3A, but the aisle's better for my legs so..."

The blonde's eyes widen, she couldn't believe this. "Soooo...if you wanted to be on the aisle you should have picked an aisle seat. I don't like the window."

"Well neither do I and I got here first, you should've been here on time."

"That isn't how this works, we're assigned seats for reason."

The brunette starts to unbuckle her seatbelt, when the blonde hears her mutter, "princess."

She snaps, "you know what? Fine," she says tossing her purse over the lap of the brunette, before she ungracefully climbs over her, perhaps leaning her knee into the other woman's thigh with a little more force than necessary. She sits down, roughly closes the shade, and buckles her seatbelt. After a glare in the brunette's direction and ten seconds of silence, she hastily unbuckles her seatbelt to retrieve her headphones. She re-fastens her seatbelt, shoves the earbuds in her ears and rests the back of her head firmly against the headrest, shutting her eyes.

The flight attendant comes over to ask the blonde if she wants a drink but with her headphones in, she doesn't hear her. She assumes she's asleep and tends to another passenger while the brunette pokes her once to see if she's awake.

The blonde cracks an eye open and peers at the bespectacled poker beside her, she removes the left earbud,

"What?," she hisses.

"I just wanted to let you know..."

"How about you don't let me know anything for the duration of this flight? Can you handle that? Or is that request too princessy?"

The brunette fights her smirk and raises her hands in surrender.

"Excellent," the blonde says and shoves the earbud back into her ear. Her knee bounces for a moment before she lifts up from her seat an inch or two, restrained by the belt across her lap and wonders where the flight attendant is.

The brunette can't help but sneak a peek from the corner of her eye at the blonde who keeps moving around nervously, and muttering to herself. She was pretty cute, minus the furrowed brow and uptight demeanor.

She sits back down roughly, having given up on getting intoxicated, and plays with the shade. She lifts it up an inch and looks at the man moving the checked baggage from the trolley into the storage at the base of the plane.

A few minutes later, the plane starts to back up from the gate, she shuts the shade quickly and leans back into her seat.

"Oh, I need a drink," she nervously whimpers aloud.

"They came around offering, I tried to tell you..."

"Would you shut up?," she barks. "This is all your fault."

"Man you're uptight!," she mocks back at the blonde, who turns away at her insult.

She sees the blonde inhale through her nose, releasing her staggered exhalation as if she's putting forth great effort to control a normally unconscious task. Though she can't quite see the woman's face, the brunette is able to catch the wetness that hovers around the blonde's lashes, ready to spill.

"Oh man, are you crying?," she asks placing a hand near the girls elbow, which pulls away from her fingertips.

"I'm fine."

"Look, just take mine," she says, handing the blonde her half empty glass of vodka soda. "I didn't even use the lime yet, here," she pushes it more forward, insisting.

"I'm not gonna take your drink. I don't even know you."

"It's not like I dropped a rufi in it," she says taking a small sip for proof.

The blonde eyeballs the drink, and grimaces before she snatches the glass, shuts her eyes tight and downs the contents in one gulp. With her eyes still closed, she extends her hand with the glass, "thanks."

"Not a problem."

But a moment later, the heavy breathing resumes, and the blonde shifts her body completely away from the window.

"Are you gonna be okay? Should I get someone?," the brunette inquires with genuine concern. "No," she breathes heavily a few more times, "I just really hate the window."

"We can just switch, okay? I don't want you passing out, my knees will just have to deal with being on fire."

"The seatbelt sign is on!," she says as if unbuckling her seatbelt will allow her to get sucked out the window. She pulls the strap tighter.

"We're barely moving, we can switch quick, c'mon," she says unbuckling her belt.

"Put it back on! Are you crazy? Do you know that most plane accidents happen right here on the runway?"

"In the amount of time you've just wasted divulging that statistic, you could've been sitting in this seat."

The blonde looks at her with worried eyes, as she places her hand on the metal buckle. "What if the window breaks? I could get sucked out."

The brunette can't quite stifle her laugh, but quits quickly, and looks at the blonde with a smidgen of apologetic guilt for letting the laugh cross her lips. "You're not going anywhere! You're seat belt's so tight it's practically cutting off your circulation. We'll be in the air soon, try to relax."

"That's not helping. I'm afraid of heights," her head shakes nervously, ridding the thought of being airborne. As the plane changes direction, to get in line on the runway, the brunette notes the white knuckled death grip the blonde has on the arm rest.

"Hey."

"What?"

"Look at me," she says. The blonde doesn't look up. "Look at me. Now. I mean it."

The blonde looks up reluctantly, fear clearly strewn across her face, but continues to look into the brunette stranger's eyes.

"In a few minutes, we'll be able to take off the seat belts okay? And you can sit here and we can get you more drinks," she lowers her tone, "and hopefully some drugs, and you'll be knocked out for the rest of the flight okay?"

She nods briefly.

The brunette gives her a small smile, "you have beautiful eyes by the way."

The blonde pulls her neck back hesitantly, "did you...are you hitting on me?"

The brunette throws a smirk in her direction, and shrugs a shoulder, "I just said you had nice eyes."

"I cannot believe this. First you steal my seat, cause me to miss my opportunity to request all the nips this plane has on board, insult me and now you're hitting on me as I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown?!"

"Hey, I tried to see if you wanted a drink, you chose to be pissy and told me to shut up." The blonde swiftly unbuckles her belt, the brunette's eyes widen, surprised by the act.

The blonde lifts the arm rest that separates their seats, "hurry the fuck up," she says practically manually removing the brunette's belt for her.

The brunette undoes her buckle and slides across the seat, taking note of the blonde's ass as she slides over her and into the aisle seat. The blonde quickly re-fastens her seatbelt and lowers the armrest, dividing their seats once again. She tightens her grip on both handles of the armrests and is almost giddy to have gotten away from the window.

She leans her head back against her seat and tilts it toward the brunette, "thanks."

"Not a problem kid. I'm sorry I made you cry, if I'd known you were gonna get this worked up about the seat, I wouldn't have given you such a hard time. "

The blonde looks at her for a moment. Even though she was partially responsible for her grief in the first place, she appreciated the apology and the effort the brunette was making to try to ease her fears.

It was only then that she stopped seeing red and truly got a good look at the brunette. Her eyes were still apologetic, narrowed and hidden behind dark secretary glasses, but she'd be damned if a woman with this much confidence, and natural, raw, yet edgy sex appeal, was someone's secretary.

She couldn't help but notice the way she looked into her versus at her like other people did. Her gaze made her feel like she was genuinely interested, that all that mattered to the brunette in this moment was her. She couldn't remember the last time she felt that way, and this was happening between herself and someone she barely knew.

She watches the brunette wet her lips, and inhale before the audible light noise reminds her to come back to earth and acknowledge the woman's apology,

"You didn't make me cry."

"Oh no?"

"Just wrong words at the worst time."

"Please check your seat belts in preparation for take off."

The blonde inhales and re-tightens her grip on the armrests.

"Hey kid, you're okay," she says resting a hand atop the terrified blonde's.

The blonde adjusts her body so that she faces the brunette, "talk to me."

"What?"

"Say anything, just keep talking."

"Alright, what's your name?"

The plane begins to pick up speed, barreling toward the end of the runway.

"Piperrrrr," she grunts out as she feels the g-force increase as the plane lifts off the runway to begin its ascent.

The brunette feels her grip tighten underneath her palm. Her thumb automatically starts brushing

across the back of the blonde's hand in soothing strokes. "I'm Alex."

"Keep talking."

"Have you been to Paris before?"

The blonde nods quickly, "once. A couple of years ago. With someone who wasn't naturally romantic but the city just reeks of romance," she says as if trying to defend herself. "There's no way a person could leave not feeling head over heels."

"Ah, so you're one of those."

Piper peers at Alex, "one of what?"

The brunette chuckles, "nothing."

As the "Fasten Seatbelt" sign turns off, and the plane levels out, the brunette squeezes the blonde's hand briefly and releases.

"See? You survived," she says with a small smirk and raises the shade a bit to look out the window.

The blondes eyes shut, "please can you keep it closed? I'm sorry I'm the worst person to fly next to."

The brunette closes the shade, "s'closed," she says so Piper can open her eyes without fear. "I promise you're far from the worst person I've flown next to."

The blonde's face brightens at this, "really? Do I wanna know?," she contemplates for a quick second before giddily demanding, "tell me about the worst ones."

The brunette can't help but notice the light radiating from this woman's face when she smiles. She suppresses the blush threatening to appear,

"oh there's the talker despite the earbuds and an open book, the people who think others enjoy flying next to their infant, the person who doesn't think showering before an eight hour flight is a basic standard of courtesy. These are of course aside from the nervous flyer's who refuse to sit next to the window," she says elbowing her playfully, "but you've been the hottest one, so I'm willing to risk my amputation for your comfort."

The blonde inhales and exhales dramatically while shaking her head, "you're doing it again." "Does it bother you?"

She tries to hide her smile, "no."

"Good. So can I continue?"

The blonde couldn't quite put her finger on what was happening but she knew that she liked it, "go ahead."

The flight attendant comes around and offers a second round of drinks and takes dinner orders. "What did you have earlier?," Piper asks pointing to the empty glass.

"Vodka soda."

"I'll take that," she tells the attendant while Alex orders a glass of wine.

"That drink helped a lot, sorry I stole yours."

"Forget about it. You can buy me one another time." "Oh really?"

"Yea," the brunette sits back into her chair and rests her hands on the armrests, her eyes shut knowing the blonde is taking her in.

As the blonde's eyes rake over the form of the other woman, she blurts out, "it may have been the drink, or it might've been your voice...your words, I mean," she tries to quickly recover.

The brunette raises an eyebrow before she opens her eye to peer at the blonde. "Well which was it?"

Piper puckers her lips in a knot, not wanting to specify, not quite knowing herself, she just knew she felt calmer with this woman by her side.

"So what brings you to Paris?," the blonde inquires, choosing to ignore the brunette's question. "I come here a lot for work."

"Oh, so this is a business trip?"

She nods once, "all business," she says with a teasingly sultry whisper.

The plane hits a rough cloud and jostles the plane, causing the blonde to rapidly suck in the air around her and resume her tight grip on the armrests. She digs her nails into the flesh of the back of the brunette's hand, unaware, as she hears the soothing voice tell her to "count to ten."

By the time she reaches ten, her hand naturally loosens, the brunette withdraws it from the central armrest and looks at the back of her hand, "well that's going to leave a mark," she shows the blonde.

Her eyes widen at the broken skin, "oh my God, I'm so sorry!"

The brunette chuckles, "so now you owe me a drink and a new hand. "

"What if it scars? I might have some cream in my carry on," she says eyeing the overhead bin and then her seatbelt.

The brunette notices the impending nervousness again and tries to quickly distract her, "if it scars, then I'll always remember the hot, terrified blonde who death-gripped my hand that time I went to Paris."

Piper still looks at her sorrowfully, "I'm a disaster. Are you sure you're okay? If there's something I can do..."

She cuts her off, "you can quit putting yourself down for starters."

She feels her face redden at the mild scold, "when you hear your flaws verbalized on a regular basis, you start to embody them. Walking blob of vices."

As their drinks are placed on the tray, Piper goes to lift hers to take a sip, in hopes to lower her level of consciousness but the brunette gently holds her hand down. The blonde eyes the hand that's placed around her own before the husky voice deters her attention,

"what brings you to Paris?," she asks her seriously, with any sign of previous smugness ridden from her face.

The blonde's blue eyes flicker upward to meet the brunette's. She breathes in and exhales, "to be

around love, even if I'm not the one who gets to experience it."

The brunette's mouth is dry but she manages to suck whatever moisture lingers and swallows.

"I...I need some faith that it's still out there...," she averts her eyes bashfully upon the realization that she's unloading on this stranger, "that I didn't just throw away my one chance."

"One chance?"

"Yeah."

The brunette's eyebrows raise than dramatically lower, "do you really believe in that?"

"That's there's one person for everyone?," the blonde clarifies.

"Yeah, like soulmates."

"I did?"

While a part of her mind told her not to inquire further, she followed her instincts, "were you married?"

"What? No." She thinks it over for a moment, and snaps out a more irritated "no," in confirmation.

Alex bites her lips together, while prying the other woman's hand off the strong grip she had around her glass, and brings it closer to her face. "You have a tan line," she says angling the ring finger of her left hand toward her.

Piper pulls her hand back slightly, "I was engaged. Never married. What're you? Some kind of spy?"

"No," she laughs, "just observant. When someone that looks like you flounces by, I assume most people take a glance at your hand to decide if it's even worth saying 'hi.'"

"Are you always such a sweet talker?" "Why? Like what you hear?"

"I've heard worse," she says smiling noting how easy it comes; that she's smiled more over the last hour than she feels she has in the last few months.

"And what happened with this... guy?...," she raises an eyebrow to confirm. The blonde nods in confirmation.

"...the one who may have been your one chance. Was he your soulmate?" Piper shakes her head back and forth, and whispers "no."

"Then? You wanna say what happened?" She offers the girl the chance to get things off her chest, not truly wanting to know the details about how some dickhead broke this girl's heart.

"You know it's the same ole story, initially thought he was sweet and creative and that we liked the same things. I was comfortable, content."

The brunette takes over, "but then you realized you were bored with 'comfortable' and wanted something more?"

Piper squints slightly and tongues her cheek, "that's more or less the abridged version. I just realized that while 'sweet and comfortable' is nice, it's predictable."

"Mmmhmm," the brunette listens intently.

"Don't get me wrong, I need predictable, warm and comfortable sometimes. But I also want hot! I want fireworks. I want somebody I can have adventures with."

"Well it's good that you realized that before...," she's cut off as the blonde continues defensively,

"And just because I want all of those things, does not mean that I'm a princess. Nor does wanting someone who's driven, someone who has a job that can help support us make me uptight."

"Did he call you a prin...," the brunette is cut off again by the ranting blonde. She covers her mouth with her hand.

"I'm not saying I want someone to provide for me and carry me through life. I just don't want to be the sole provider, I don't want to be somebody's mother. I want someone to be my equal."

She looks up and meets the wide sparkling green eyes behind the dark frames and feels immediately self conscious.

"Oh God, I'm sorry. Once I get going I can't seem to stop."

"Stop apologizing, I asked... So he called you an uptight princess?"

"Not more than 24 hours ago when I finally spelled out, that this just wasn't working. And then I make a choice to book a seat on this flight, and go somewhere that I know will make me believe I have a chance at true love, and get told again, that I'm uptight and a princess for wanting to sit in my own seat."

"Shit. Look, I shouldn't have said that. Tell you what, you don't have to replace my hand, even if it gets all necrotic and falls off. Call it even?"

"Sure," the blonde says with a small chuckle.

"Really though, I'm sorry. I never wanted to see you cry."

"Don't worry about it, like I said earlier just the wrong words at the worst time. I'm.. I'm okay! I'm heading to Paris, gonna get my can-can on, eat fresh bread, and admire people who stop to really appreciate everything around them."

The brunette lifts her glass, and nudges her head for Piper to follow suit, "To a second chance, in the city of love."

They clink their tumblers and sip. The blonde wipes her lip with her thumb, and cocks her head to the side,

"so, you don't believe there's one person for everyone?"

The brunette takes another sip of her drink and shakes her head no. "I think some people are better suited for each other than others and if that couple wants things to work out in the long run, both parties need to put forth the effort."

"Are you seeing anyone?" "Why? You interested?" "Are you always this smug?" "Yes."

Piper diverts the question, "well are you? You know too much about me, we need to even the

playing field."

"I didn't tell you to relay your autobiography, that was all you."

Piper sips her drink and looks the brunette up and down, "you're definitely single."

Alex chuckles and shrugs a shoulder. She takes another sip.

"No one could put up with such an egotistical smartass all the time."

"And yet you're still talking to me."

Piper rolls her eyes, "maybe I'm bored."

"I'm not boring."

The blonde's nostrils flare, she resists the urge to react to this woman's pompous remarks, and yet wants to see how many more she's got up her sleeve as she's quite intrigued.

She notices Piper somewhere lost between her bottom and top lip, she wets her mouth and clears her throat, "if you're going to call me boring, you should get a better poker face. You're practically drooling."

Piper blinks and adverts her eyes elsewhere.

"I didn't say I didn't like it," the brunette clarifies.

Piper's elbow rests on the armrest, she fiddles with the music on her phone in the opposite hand. Her eyes stayed fixed on her phone, "so what do you like to do? Aside from embarrassing newly vulnerable should've been brides?"

"You're good at laying that guilt on thick, huh?"

"It's a gift."

"Who's the smartass now?"

"In my spare time, which is scarce, you might find me traveling to the any of the four corners of the world..."

"I knew you traveled a lot. I can tell. You just bleed 'world traveler!' You have that look!"

Alex stops and slowly blinks as if annoyed by the interruption. "Are you done?"

"Sorry, you were saying?"

"I was saying I enjoy traveling, particularly long walks on the beach, deeply thinking about life."

Piper audibly exhales at what she assumes is another wise-ass comment spilling from the brunette's lips. Full lips, she mentally notes.

"Or you know when I'm home I'm usually found hustling at the pool hall, or at a lounge on the lower east side, breaking the occasional heart. But you probably already knew that too. Since I just bleed the obvious."

"I didn't mean it like that," her back straightens, her eyes laced with worry that she brought offense.

"I want you to do something."

The blonde raises a skeptical brow.

"Scrunch up your forehead." She waits for a moment as the blonde complies. "Now raise your

shoulders up to your ears."

"No. What for?," asks resuming her prior expression.

"Can you just trust me?"

Piper mulls over the request, and while she barely knows her, there's something about her that makes her believe in whatever she says.

She scrunches up her face and raises her shoulders.

"Good, now bring your knees together and squeeze as hard as you can."

Piper takes a breath but continues.

"Now just melt into the seat."

She releases the tension in her body and looks at the brunette with a small smile.

"You have to just let stuff go."

"What?"

"Chill? Not worry about little things? You wear your heart on your sleeve and not everything is worth a full scale plead for forgiveness, you know?"

She glares at Alex knowing she's right but feels sheepish. She flips through the complimentary travel magazine stowed within the seat pocket.

"If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?," she asks curiously, wondering what country the cosmopolitan woman had yet to visit.

The brunette's eyes widen as she pulls her glass away from her mouth, and takes a moment to swallow.

"There's this place,..."

Piper listens intently, as the brunette stops to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand.

"...in Arizona..."

The record comes to a screeching halt, "Arizona?"

The brunette lets out a laugh from the depths of her throat, "yeah. Not everywhere is a million miles away."

"Okay, so a place in Arizona," the blonde wills her to continue.

"It's called Antelope Canyon?"

The blonde shakes her head back and forth having never heard of it.

"Navajo Indians regarded it as a sacred space, before going in, kind of viewed it as something greater than themselves."

The blonde watches the brunette go on and on.

"...and antelope and cattle would graze the area. It's got this wind swept look to it, with spiraled arches and everything."

"Sounds...interesting," the blonde offers.

"Interesting? It's amazing! Here I'll show you," she says and bends down toward her bag.

Piper looks down, ready for the brunette to whip out a photographer's edit of this supposed incredible canyon, when she pulls her credit card from her wallet and goes to swipe it near the touch screen build into her seat.

"Alex, it's like $20 a second to use internet up here. I can look it up some other time."

"Says the girl who spent what? 8K on a last minute ticket in first class?" She swipes her card.

"There's no price too high when you need to get away."

"Touché kid."

"And it was more like 5K."

"No way, I got my ticket yesterday too, and I spent 8!"

"Mine's one way."

"Is this the adventure you were talking about?"

Piper doesn't know if she's serious or mocking her. "I kind of just want to see how I feel in a week and I'll take it from there."

"Just fucking with you. I love that quality, spontaneously pond jumping. Wanderlust runs through my veins too." She does a search for the Antelope Canyon.

"Wanderlust?," the blonde asks while the page loads.

"Yeah, the impulsive urge to travel. Some people just say 'bitten by the travel bug?'"

"There's a word for this?"

"There's a word for everything kid. Here it is!," she says excitedly pointing to the natural curves of the canyon.

Piper tries to comprehend the bewilderment that radiates off the brunette before turning her head to the screen.

"Holy crap! That's in America?!"

"Right? Arizona?," she says imitating the voice Piper used earlier.

"Great, just go ahead and make fun of my ignorance. So I thought Arizona was all desert and tumbleweeds, so does everyone else," she says slumping her chin in the palm of her hand.

The brunette caresses the strand of hair that slipped forward and covered the blonde's face behind her ear.

Piper hesitantly looks up at the brunette who has a single brow raised hoping her contact was alright. The small smile at the corner of her mouth, allows the brunette to relax.

"I'm just messing with you," the brunette explains. "Assume always, if I take a dig, I'm just busting your chops."

"Are we at a point where you should be doing anything to my chops?"

The brunette smiles widely and bites her tongue between her teeth, "well you do have some lovely chops."

Piper notes the swirl in her stomach, but tries to ignore it, but she comes off looking uncomfortable.

She notes the expression on the blonde's face, "shit, did I say something that offended you?"

"No," she says, offended was definitely not what she was feeling.

"Are you sure? Your face is telling me I've embarrassed you or you've got a wedgie. Can't tell."

She shuts and opens her eyes in an exaggerated blink, "I'm not embarrassed in the least, but I have had to pee for the last two hours.

"So go!," the brunette commands relieved that the rest of her plane ride will not go down as the most disastrous fuck up in history.

"I can't!"

"What? Is this conversation too riveting?"

"The seatbelt!"

"Oh for fuck's sake. So you're gonna risk kidney damage or peeing on the seat? That'll be attractive."

The blonde contorts more.

"Want me to go with you?," the brunette mockingly offers.

"No, I don't want you to go with me."

She watches Piper suck in some air, while sweat starts accumulating over the skin of her face. "This is ridiculous, get up," the brunette commands while undoing her belt and standing up. "No, I'm not getting up, it's just a few more hours."

She wiggles her way over the blonde until she's standing in the aisle, she bends down and whispers, "Piper I will embarrass you right here and now if you do not unbuckle that seatbelt so you can pee like you've never peed before."

"I-am-not-getting-up."

With a hand on her hip, she stares down the blonde and gives her one last chance to voluntarily comply. When Piper's butt stays glued to her seat, Alex speaks loud enough for surrounding passengers to hear, "lady if you wanna get it on, all you hafta do is ask, but to just grope me..."

Piper practically flies out of her seat, bumping the brunette during her ejection from the seat to the aisle. She clamors and waits by the bathroom door with a sneer in Alex's direction. The brunette stands behind her as she's had to go for a bit as well but didn't want to ask the blonde to undo her life support until it was absolutely necessary.

Piper gripes under her breath, complaining that everyone is staring at her now as if she's some sort of pervert.

"Will you relax?," Alex whispers out of the corner of her mouth. "Are you ever gonna see these snobs again?"

She's about to answer when the flight attendant stands a few feet away, eyeballing the supposed groper and her dark haired, overly confident companion.

"Look, she's guarding us!," Piper mumbles mortified, while Alex amusedly chuckles. "For fucks sake, I can't believe you said I tried to get in your pants," she laughs out the last word. "Fucker."

The door finally opens as someone steps outside the lavatory, Piper steps forward and pushes an

arm back to hold the brunette in place not allowing her to come closer, "absolutely no mile high club for you."

She undoes the button on her slacks and pushes them down with haste, as she hovers over the toilet seat and pees a stream that lasts a good sixty seconds. Relieved she exhales and secures the button, flushes and washes her hands. She wrinkles her nose at the state of her messy hair, as it took a beating from her haul through the airport earlier that evening. She removes the hair elastic from around her wrist, rakes her hair back and twists it up into a messy bun. She wipes away the bleeding eyeliner from underneath her eyes and fights her smile at the thought of the brunette that's waiting on the other side of the door. What she thought was going to be a long eight hour flight sitting next to an arrogant entitled asshole, had turned into a playful, interesting journey, where she felt somewhat valued and desired. She'd been enjoying the attention, for the forward compliments hadn't felt threatening but flattering. And why shouldn't she? This had been the point in taking this trip. To believe in finding someone new, and if that meant that love would be found in the adjacent bucket seat on an airplane, so be it.

Alex knocks on the door, "um ma'am there's a line forming out here," she completes as the blonde opens the door, with her hair restyled and newly accentuated bone structure.

The blonde eye fucks the brunette the best way she knows how as she slips past her. She swears she hears an exasperated laugh escape the brunette's mouth as she returns to her seat and sees her slip into the bathroom stall.

A couple of minutes later, Alex stands by the seat waiting for Piper to get up so she can get back to her seat.

The blonde looks up, "what?"

"Can I sit down?"

She looks at her knees obstructing the path, "what's stopping you?"

The brunette takes the subtle hint of flirtation, and yet no mile high club, alright. She sticks her ass out further than necessary while stepping past the blonde and back into her seat.

She leans into the blonde while re-fastening her seatbelt, "I'm not used to being rejected. That was a big blow to my ego. Might be scarred for life."

"Something tells me your ego could stand to be bruised."

"Here I sit thinking you're a sweet delicate flower, and you just take a knife to my chest. I see how it is."

"You have nice chops too," she offers and looks out the corner of her eye to gauge the brunette's reaction.

"Hah," the brunette cackles and presses the attendant button.

Piper shakes her head, "so what're you planning on doing when you're not working? Anywhere in particular that you go to eat or visit when you come here?"

The flight attendant cancels the call bell and takes the women's new drink orders. "Well there's plenty of amazing little bistro's tucked around, where are you staying?"

"I...haven't figured that out yet." She looks at the brunette, expecting judgement but she just continues listening to the blonde's spontaneity, her green eyes remain fixed on the blonde's blues.

"Figured I'd just call around once I land. Anywhere you'd recommend?"

"Have you heard of the Shangri-La? Thank you," she says more softly while Piper passes her her drink.

"James Hinton's 'Lost Horizon' Shangri-La?"

The brunette raises her glasses on her head, eyeing the blonde up and down with a smolder. She takes a moment to collect her thoughts. Here's a woman who's expressions are so animated, they're infectious and endearing, a woman who undervalues her worth and is so much more than what she emits, who's naturally polite but isn't afraid to spit back fire. Someone who just happens to have made herself single, who's right now grabbing life by the reigns and following her gut and on top of all this, she fuckin reads. The brunette takes a breath "I meant the hotel, but yeah, from the novel. You like to read?"

Piper turns her head slowly toward the brunette, "I do," and sexily bites her bottom lip, "apparently."

The brunette's drink slips from her hand and directly into Piper's lap. She instinctually goes to jump up at the icy liquid that seeps through her pants, but her belt restrains her.

"Shit, I'm so sorry."

"It's alright Alex," she says as the brunette uses the thin flimsy napkins that accompanied their drinks to blot her pants.

"No it's not alright, I soaked your pants!" She starts to use the cloth napkin, leftover from dinner, to hopefully have better luck absorbing the liquid. "And not in the way I'd planned to."

Piper inhales and lets the smile come through. "It's really fine, they'll dry. Hand me that," she says pointing to the complimentary airline blanket stowed along the console. "Block me," she says holding up the corners for the brunette to grasp and proceeds to slip off her pants. She pulls the blanket over her legs, but not without purposely flashing the brunette some skin. She looks over at Alex and winks, "who needs to lighten up now?"

"Sure you're okay?

"Yes, I'm sure, I don't think anyone's ever died of wet pants."

"That's what she said, huh?," she says pulling her hair over her shoulder. She asks, "what happened to your leg?"

"Huh?"

"You have a scar on your leg. Good story? Bad story?"

"More like stupid drunken story."

"Those are the best. If I hit this attendant call light again do you think this woman's gonna spit in my drink?"

Piper shrugs, "let's not take any chances." She passes her her drink, "now we're even."

Alex's hand automatically raises to take the glass, but then withdraws it, "wait, if I take this one, does this mean we're not gonna meet up for drinks another time?"

"We'll see."

Alex swirls the straw around the blonde's drink, clinking the ice cubes around before taking a

sip.

"Ok so scar?"

"Right, so I was walking past this homeless kid one night...you know what? Last time I told this story, I also took my pants off. And met my ex. Maybe I shouldn't?"

"Tell you what, if we ever get to a point where there's potential to call me an ex, I'll veto any stories that have a link to your ex, alright?"

Piper's eyes widen, broader than before, with an innocence about them.

"Pipes?"

The blonde looks up and smiles at the term of endearment.

She nods for a moment, still unsure if she'll ever talk to this woman again after this flight, she's reluctant to continue out of fear she'll jinx whatever it is they have going on between them.

"Go on, homeless kid...," she prompts the blonde and takes another sip.

The blonde inhales, "right so, this homeless kid was asking for money for dog food, and I was like if you can't afford dog food, you shouldn't have a dog."

"True story. Can't stand when people get animals and then don't take care of them properly." "Right?"

The brunette tilts her glass toward the blonde, who takes her up on a sip.

"So then he tells me it's for protection. And I tell him that dog is not protecting anybody." The brunette nods.

"And then it bit me."

Alex laughs heartily, "well at least it's a good story."

"Yeah," she says pulling the blanket back some and admires her battle wound.

The brunette brushes her fingertips along the scar, "does it hurt?"

Piper bursts out in laughter, "no it doesn't hurt! It's years old."

"Oh," she traces her fingertips a little higher.

The blonde swallows, the muscle in her thigh tightens.

The brunette looks into the blonde's eyes as her hand creeps higher, her thumb brushes closer toward her inner thigh.

The blonde's thigh pulls inward shyly, "I can't do this here."

The brunette nods her head and slowly withdraws her hand, not wanting to push her luck.

"Anyway, back to the Shrangri-La. What's so special about it?"

"Well it's where I'm staying firstly, but I can also promise you a catered breakfast or dinner, whatever tickles your fancy, with a view of the Eiffel Tower."

"That sounds really nice..."

"You should come by and check it out. The view alone is worth it if nothing else. We can talk and drink outside of a row on a plane, and just see where it goes."

Piper tucks the blanket underneath her leg and sits on her hands, "and the row's been great...it's just..."

Alex feels her confidence teeter as she sees Piper's hesitation.

"What if this was just meant to be an on-the-plane kind of thing? Who's to say that when we're

walking around out there, it'll still feel...like...this?"

"I thought you were looking for adventure?"

"I was. I am. But... I just met you, and going back to your room..."

"You could wonder about the what if, or you could come to the Terrace Eiffel Tower Room and see if this is worth the hype." Her words are lined with hope, "it's in your hands."

The brunette does her best to halt her flirting for the remainder of the flight, despite the shoulder that leans against her own. She cant help but acknowledge the sparkle of hope inside her, that the blonde may change her mind by the time they touch ground. She cant help but notice that during the descent, Piper seems much calmer than she did on the journey up and over. As the plane pulls up to the gate, the brunette stands and lowers Piper's bag and her own from the overhead bin. They continue small talk en route to baggage claim and as they watch bag after bag tumble onto the carousel. As they retrieve their bags, Alex offers to help her find somewhere to stay, before being reassured that she'd be okay, as she waits by the Help Desk counter. The brunette tells her to take care, takes one last look at her, and walks away, dragging her bags behind her. It's not until the blonde is sorting through the last of the hotels in the book, does she realize the brunette took her bag. She thanks the Help Desk and hails a cab to the Shangri-La.

By the large balcony window that overlooks the Champ de Mars, the brunette leans against the frame in sullen silence. She mulls over the option of going out and bringing whoever she wanted back to her room, but the thumping in her chest remains fixated on the blonde with that thousand watt smile.

The ringing phone pulls her from the thought, she pushes off the frame and drags her feet the few steps over and answers.

"Ms. Vause, you have a guest here at the front desk. A Miss...," she can hear the concierge's muffled voice, "Chapman."

"No, don't tell her that! Tell her it's Piper!"

The brunette inhales and nods, hearing the blonde's nervous voice in the distant background. She laughs, "please send her up!"

The brunette flies toward the bathroom, then makes a u-turn back her to half opened suitcase to find something more suitable to wear instead of the skimpy pajama shorts and tank top she threw on once she settled into her room. She vetoes the wardrobe change and opts to haul back to the bathroom to hap-hazardly try to fix her hair and makeup, when she hears a knock on the door.

She stands by the door with her hand hovering over the handle. She takes a deep breath and opens the door.

"I believe you have my bag," Piper says with that signature smile plastered across her face.

She steps back and opens the door wider, as the blonde steps forward and presses her lips against the brunette's in a searing kiss.


End file.
